


From Above

by Setsuna24



Category: Original Work
Genre: BL, Fantasy, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-18 10:30:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3566414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setsuna24/pseuds/Setsuna24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dragon comes once a year to the small town at the base of his mountains. Usually he takes the townsfolk's offerings and goes back to his home, this year a young man decides the dragon has outlived his welcome and dooms an innocent in the stead of the guilty. The dragon demans someone to take the punishment and the least expected person will be the one to shoulder their sin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beast In The Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashida/gifts).



> This thing, it would not let me sleep at all last night and demanded to be written and thus here it is so i can finally get some much deserved rest. 
> 
> Happy fictionversary Ashida! (not quite there yet but close enought)
> 
> Thanks to fifteenfeb for betaing.
> 
> This work is purely fictional and any simmilaties with real life or anything else under the sun is purely coincidental.

**Chapter One: Beast In The Night**

Breim was quiet today. Everyone went about their business as fast as they could and there was no time to idle chatter. Tonight was the night and no one wanted to be outside once darkness fell upon the small town at the base of the mountain. Each household went about preparing their offerings from this year’s harvest and even the small children were helping with the preparation of the Feast Table.

It seemed like some happy celebration was about to take place, but he knew better. The large table stood in the center of the large clearing that stood as a town square. When he was younger, he had wondered why it was so large, that is until the day he comprehended the reasons without having to ask. He stood outside his home, right pass the threshold, with a meat pie in his hands as his eyes took in the colorful decorations and flowers surrounding the space. The table already held many different offerings from different households and a small child carried another one from his home to deposit atop it.

There were pigs, cows, goats and even a horse tied to poles near the table but far enough as to not disturb it. His own home had already sent his little brother to tie their live sacrifice to one of the poles, a pig they had been fattening all year, the same one he had asked his father to serve at his coming of age months prior. His father had been so angry he did not speak a single word to him for nearly three weeks, he did not understand his father’s anger on behalf of the monster.It was as if his father respected the witless beast and it’s so called property. He had watched from the window as his fifteen year old brother bather the fattest, healthiest pig from their pen in buttermilk and fed it the sweetest fruits and the most tender leaves from their spice bushes, then took the pig to the town square and tied it to its designated post. It had made his blood boil in anger then, just as it did now that he took their cooked offering to the table with heavy steps. It made him burn this year as it made him burn all the previous ones since the day he realized they were just slaves at the mercy of a monster.

It was not fair, they worked all year long to plant and care for their fields and to feed and care for their livestock. But every year, a large portion of their harvest and the choice animals went to the monster within the mountain. A monster that in his opinion, did not deserve all the fear and reverence it was given. For over three hundred years, his people had lived under the monster’s foot, caterings to his desires and faithfully giving the best of their labor to it. He blamed his family, his father too, for their cowardice thorough the years since the beginning of the town. They were all cowards, people like his father who were supposed to lead Breim, calling themselves town leaders and the others who insisted in being called elders yet hid under their beds in fear of what lurks in the dark one night a year. It sickened him that his father would not heed his advice to gather the men and hunt down the beast and to liberate their people from its oppressive presence once and for all.

They were content to continue living as they have and bring offerings to the monster. Animals for the animal.Food for the beast. But not tonight, tonight will be different, things would finally change and they will all be free of the demon.

He was seventeen now, by their laws, a man and able to take part in their meetings and decision-making. He had brought the subject up every month during their meeting and was shot down every time. In his desperation, he had turned from seeking the aid of the town leaders and instead went to seek the support of the young, men that just like himself, would one day take over for their fathers and lead the town as his advisors and elders. In the cover of darkness, secreted among high bushes in the surrounding wilderness they concocted a plan. To poison the monster with the very feast he so desired and then, when they were sure the beast was dead, to take to the tunnels within the mountain and claim all its treasures. They would be rich but most of all, they would be free.

Placing the cooked offering on the table, he allowed a small smirk to appear on his face as he momentarily locked eyes with the baker and the tanner’s eldest sons. All households had placed their offerings upon the large table; it was a matter of waiting now, of waiting for the night to fall and for the monster from the mountain to take his feast with him. Tomorrow, they will embark on taking over the mountain and claiming what was theirs. Tomorrow, when the large quantity of poison in the food was sure to have killed the beast, they would be free.

The young man walked back to his home and from within the house, he watched through the window as the women made sure the last of the flowers were placed properly and the tablecloth was still unblemished. They fuzzed over every last detail, making sure the town square was decorated up to standards and lighted torches around the large space to provide light for the monster. Not that it needed it, dragons had excellent night vision, or so he heard. In the late afternoon, the women ran to their houses and locked the doors behind them.There was barely any light outside except for that provided by the torches, the dragon would be here soon. Each family sat in their homes ready to begin their own small and quiet harvest feast. He turned to look at their table, the simple meal in comparison to the one placed at the large table outside disgusted him, and he thought they deserved more.

It was not fair that they had to eat their so called feast in silence and fear, enjoying so little when there was so much out there. He wanted more, he deserved more, and the dragon had everything he wanted. There were stories of halls of stone and gold within the mountain, he did not know where they came from but they had been told in the town long before he was born, he wanted all of it. He was even willing to share a small portion of his gains with those who had sided with him, to his own family he would give nothing, except to his brother whom he cared for dearly. His brother was perhaps the only person he would dare say he truly loved.

***

They sat around the table, their meager feast was already being eaten and the windows were all closed to help them ignore what was about to happen.Even in their celebration, they were just hiding within their homes.

The sound of a large object landing on the town square and the shaking of their home alerted them of their visitor. The beast had arrived for his feast and soon would depart to his mountain with the spoils of their labor and the sweat of their brow. The monster would soon die. Everyone stopped eating and sat in silence as they waited for the dragon to depart.The silence was oppressing and even the animals outside refrained from making panicked noises. There was something different about tonight, they could all feel it, but only Gareth and his followers knew why.

Why had it not left yet? It was the question on everyone’s mind as normally the dragon would arrive, spirit his offerings away and then leave to his cave. But today, it seemed to linger in the town square for longer than normal. An angry shout rose from the town square and the wind carried the deep venomous and ire filled voice to each and every house. It was the first time any of them heard the dragon speak, Gareth had always thought the monster to be a witless beast that cared only for easy food, now he was not so sure and it scared him. It made him feel like he had made a terrible mistake and was about to pay dearly for it.

“COME OUT ALL OF YOU! COME OUT NOW OR I WILL BURN THIS DAMN VILLAGE TO THE GROUND!”

With shaking legs, his father walked out of the house, leading the town in a somber and fearful procession to the town square. The dragon was angry and he only hoped there was something he could do to appease it. Gareth followed his father just like his friends and followers followed theirs. In a matter of seconds, he felt more alone than he ever had as their once supporting glances turned into accusing ones. They would throw him to the fire any minute to save their necks.

They all stood before the large beast, for many it was their first time seeing it as they had only caught glimpses of its form from within the safety of their home. The dragon was intimidating with blood red eyes that bore to your soul, a large muzzle filled with long sharp fangs from which venom dripped, claws on its long paws the length of a grown man’s arms and a midnight colored sleek body taller than three of their humble houses. How did he ever think he could win against such a beast? His idiocy was brought by the thought that the dragon had no intelligence at all when now, looking at those eyes, he realized it had perhaps hundreds of years of knowledge hidden behind them. How foolish he had been to let his greed get to his head and now he had doomed them all. Hopefully his father would find a way to save them.

“Why are you so angry, Great Lord of the Mountain? We have prepared your feast and presented our offerings just as we have done every year for generations. What is it that has displeased you? Tell us and we will fix it for you.” His father, the town leader spoke for them all and pleaded, fear etched in his semblance as he bowed several times to the monster before them.

Mothers held their children close and their husbands held them in turn, all of them shaking to their bones at the prospect of having displeased the dragon. All hoping that whatever had gone wrong was something they could fix as they waited for the creature to tell them what to do.

“Did you think of me as a simple minded creature? Did you think I’m witless and dull in my senses? Tell me human, did you and your people think I would not know? That the moment my body hit the ground and I took in the smell of the food you have presented my nose would not pick up on the taint you have spread over it in order to bring about my demise. Let me tell you something town leader, my mouth fills with poison from sunrise to dawn and every moment in between. Your manmade poisons would have done nothing to me. Still, it insults me that you would go back on our agreement and try your hand at my death.”

“Impossible!” His father cried in outrage and fear. “We wouldn’t, we would never do such a thing, you must be wrong. No one here would dare poison your feast.”

The fool he called father denied the dragon’s claims, not knowing the machinations that took place in his town.

“How dare you call me a liar? Know your place human, I never lie, which is something you can’t say about your kind. The smell of greed and deceit surrounds you; it cannot be hidden from me. Remember human, I make your rains fall during the dry season, rains which fall nowhere else, and keep your fields from draught, I keep your wells from drying and famine and disease from reaching your town. It is I that make sure you are prosperous and keep you safe, all because of an agreement reached with your forefathers long before you were even a wish shining in your grandmother’s eyes. These were my lands before your people came here and will continue to be so long after you are all gone from this world. I allow you to live here, not the other way around, and you will do well to never forget it.”

The young man heard things for the first time that he had not known before; he never knew they were so dependent on the dragon. His father stood in shock, his mind trying to figure out who would dare do such a thing.

“I am sorry, I did not mean to disrespect you, and in no way did I mean to call you a liar. I just don’t understand how this could happen.”

“You are a foolish leader who knows not what happens under his own nose. I am not cruel but this act deserves punishment. Someone will have to pay, give me the one that planned it all, the one who rallied the others and I will forgive this sight.”

Fathers and mothers looked at the dragon, not registering the eyes of their sons as they set their gaze upon the town leader’s eldest. He knew that any moment now, they would give him up and he would die, the young man would rather walk forward on his own and like a man own up to his actions. But before his mouth opened, his young brother’s had, Varien walked passed his father and knelt at the ground before the mighty dragon’s front paws. The boy looked at the beast’s blood red eyes and spoke with shaking words as his voice broke.

“I-I’m sorry, I will take all responsibilities.”

Gareth stood frozen next to his mother as his father looked upon his son in shock, his mouth open in stunned surprise. He could not believe it. No one could, and apparently neither did the dragon. The large red eyes went from his brother’s face to his then back to his brother’s, expecting him to say something. To come forward and take the punishment he deserved instead of allowing his innocent brother to take the fall for his actions. But he was afraid, he was rooted to the ground and frozen to the core in place, unable to speak or move. The dragon snorted, perhaps laughing at his weakness and nodded once.

“Very well, you will pay for all those who conspired against me. You will bear their guilt and come with me; your family and friends will never see you again, let this stand as a warning for future generations.”

“P-please, not my son. He would not have done such a thing. Please don’t take him away.” His father, whom had apparently shaken off of his own frozen state pleaded to the dragon as he stood still in silence.

“Someone has to be punished.” The dragon said coldly.

“But he is just a boy, he is only fifteen. Please, he is not even of age, please let him live his childhood. Don’t take him away.”

“I do not care whether he is a boy or a man, someone has to be punished and he has taken the fault. He will come with me and I will do with him as I please. His life belongs to me and I will decide what to do with it. I might kill him or I might let him live, whatever happens to him is my choice and mine only. You have no say in this.”

“You are going to kill him?” The young man finally asked.

“Perhaps.” Answered the dragon with a feral smirk on his muzzle, he was now sure the dragon knew who was the instigator of the poisoning attempt and this was his way of making him suffer for what he had done, by taking away the only person he cared for.

“But, he is only a boy…” Repeated his father. “Much too young to die.”

The dragon looked away from the young man and looked at the father again, his massive head coming to stop inches before the man’s face. The dragon’s breath blew the town leader’s hair like a strong wind as it spoke to him.

“I am not cruel, town leader; children should not die before their time. Men, on the other hand, can die any day. I will allow him to stay until the harvest of his seventeenth year and then I will come for him. On his body, I will place my mark and there will be no place on this earth where he could hide from me. Know that there is nothing that can be done to prevent this, someone has to be punished.”

The large head retreated and came to stop above the boy who still knelt on the ground before the big paws. Its large mouth opened releasing foul breath and showing even more sharp and menacing teeth. A stream of blue fire exited the dragon’s mouth and wrapped itself around the boy’s body.

“NO!” Creamed Gareth as his father held him by the arms, preventing him from rushing to his brother’s aid. Varien screamed in pain within the blue flames and pulled at the flames wrapped around his neck.

While the blue flames died down, the dragon spoke his last words as black smoke wrapped around the livestock in the town square and spirited the animals away.

“I will be back for next year’s harvest. Enjoy the time you have left with the boy and remember that when someone does something they should not, someone always ends up paying the price.”

The great black wings expanded themselves and took the monster away, the wind from their movement lifting dust from the ground and extinguishing the last of the flames. The boy was lying on the floor unconscious and when his father finally released him, the young man ran toward his brother. He held the smaller body tight against his own and gasped at the mark left upon the boy’s face for the world to see. The silhouette of a black dragon began at the boy’s forehead, went down his right temple and cheek all the way to the neck where the long tail wrapped around it like a collar that could never be removed.

His father came to them and took the unconscious body from his arms, handing it to one of the elders to take into the house. With tears in his eyes, Gareth stood and looked at his father.The moment their eyes met, a hand flew through the space between them and connected with his face in a loud slap that sent him back to the ground.

“Do not presume to think I did not see the dragon’s eyes look at you when your brother took your place.”

“Father I…”

“SILENCE!” His father screamed. “You have shamed me, shamed us all, and betrayed your brother in the worse way.”

“I didn’t know he was going to do that! I did not know he was going to offer himself up in my stead, if I knew I…”

His father cut his words with his own venomous ones.

“You what? You would have done nothing, just like you did now. He loves you and you betrayed him. Because of you, his life is now a mere two years long before it will come to an end and I can guess you don’t even know why he did it. Why he traded his life for yours.”

“I don’t know.” He said with his eyes downcast and filled with pain.

“Of course you don’t!” Yelled his father. “He did it because you are the first born and supposed to succeed me while he is the second son and sees himself as less important and expendable. He did it so you could have the power and position you’ve always wanted.”

His father walked away, and the rest of the townsfolk following behind him while  kneeled and screamed his anguish on the ground his brother’s body rested on not moments ago.


	2. Prized and Cared For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varien's life has changed but is it a good or a bad thing?

**From Above**

**Chapter Two: Prized and Cared For**

It had been a month since the Harvest Feast; his life had changed for the worse. Before, he was mostly ignored by his parents because he was the second son and not really needed. Now, he was doted upon by the whole town. It would not be so bad if it was not in such a detached way and it felt so wrong, like a good steed, being doted upon before being presented at the market, like a prized animal. Groomed to be offered for their lives, prepared for sacrifice.

It started the day after the Harvest Feast. He was still asleep when before dawn broke, the women had their meeting at the Meeting Hall in relation to how to go about with him. Generally, the men took care of the fields and animals but the offerings where always left to the caring hands of their wives. Now, his status as an offering to gain back the favor and forgiveness of the dragon, put him at their mercy. Thus, they decided his immediate future for him and came up with a way to deal with the situation. Normally, each wife only had to care for the animal their household had decided to offer that year, but seeing as his life was being offered on behalf of the whole town, they had come to the logical conclusion that they all should have a hand on his caring and preparing him for the day in which he would be taken.

He had not even broken his fast early that morning when his cowardly father had left the house and left his mother to give him the explanation of how his life would change from now on. She tried to be gentle in the way she said things, subtle in the implications, but he was not an idiot and could read between the lines.

“It won’t be so bad.” She had said. “And you will get to taste the food prepared by every single woman in this town, you must tell me who is the best cook!” Her attempt at a lighthearted joke to lessen the impact of her words was not really all that comforting, but he knew that something like this might happen. He had spent most of his nights thinking about it until he finally succumbed to sleep.

Every day, a different woman brought the meals he was supposed to eat. He noticed right away at the increase in fruits and vegetables on his diet, the grains and the choice of meat. As the second son and the third male in the house, he had never eaten this good.

Varien’s hair had been cut close to his scalp on the second day, and the woman in charge of bathing him and clothing him would rub flowery smelling oils on his head and brush his fast growing hair every day. It had never been this pretty before and had by now, lost all its straw-like appearance and gained a healthy shine and rich honey color. His nails were cut and his hands and feet soaked in warm water with flower petals twice a week. More of those flowery smelling oils were then worked into his skin until all calluses from running around barefoot and helping in the fields were smoothed away. The wife of one of the man with most cows, would show up every three days to let him soak in milk after scrubbing his body until his skin was almost raw, then she would rub a sweet smelling paste all over his body to keep his skin soft and healthy. He thought he smelled like a girl and he hated it. He supposed he could be happy about the way he was doted upon, but in all honesty, he just could not bring himself to enjoy the ways he was cared for by the women. He guessed it had much to do with the reason behind it.

He was no longer allowed to help the other men with their work or to roughhouse around with the boys his age. Three times a day, his mother made some excuse to have him accompany her as she walked around the Town Square several times. He was quick to realize he was not walking with her but rather being walked as she made sure he got enough exercise, it made him feel like a dog. At least once a week, he found himself carrying a message from woman to woman from one side of the town to the other for hours. He supposed they really did not want him to get fat and lazy now that he was not allowed physical labor.The women must have thought themselves clever and subtle. At least every time he arrived at a new house, they offered him water and a small snack of fruits. Varien thought he was bearing it all rather diplomatically, after all, he was now just another animal to be kept in good shape and healthy until its time at the pole had arrived. He had accepted his fate.

At night, sometimes he heard his mother cry and plead his father to take him away, to where he could never be found and could live a life beyond two years. His father reminded her in hushed whispers that the dragon would find him no matter how far he ran and that the whole town depended on the dragon’s forgiveness. It was not about his son’s life but the life of everyone in the town. She would agree with him and keep quiet for days until the reality of it all would catch up to her again, and become too much for her and once more they would have the same talk.

The other children would give him a wide berth, it seems their mothers had warned them not to do anything to cause him to get hurt and their fathers had suggested that staying clear of him altogether might be the best way to go about it. The girls were the worst part of it all as they passed him with their whispered conversations and pointing fingers. More than once, he caught the words ‘dragon’s boy’ and ‘dragon’s payment’ from their lips as they spoke about him. He should not be hurt about it, after all, it was true. But it still hurts, especially when he had heard them from Aska on one occasion.

Almost one month before the Feast, his father and Aska’s father, who served as the Town’s Clerk, had decided behind closed doors what to do about the clerk position once the man was too old to keep track of everyone’s income. The man only had daughters and seeing as every time they tried for a son, his wife bore him yet another female. They had finally reached the conclusion that it was just not going to happen. Varien’s father, having two sons and not knowing what to do with the second, offered a diplomatic solution to take care of both their problems. Varien and Aska were to marry once he reached his coming of age and he would move into the Clerk’s home as his apprentice. His mother told him that same day and despite Aska being one year older than him, Varien had been very happy with the news. He had always found her beautiful and liked her very much and not having to work in the fields the rest of his life was definitely a plus. He had thought she liked him too, but had been too shy to approach her before since she was older than him. He thought now that they were in a way betrothed, he could be more confident about speaking to her and had begun to imagine what his life with Aska would be like. Being the town’s clerk was still not as important a position as being the town’s leader like his brother was destined to be, but it would be something he could do to help his older brother in a way that being a simple farmer could not. He had hopes of being more than just the second son, more than the one his father generally ignored.

Now, just like all the other girls, she stayed away from him and spoke of him as if he was a mere animal. She too, treated him like a cattle and it hurt in a way he had not expected when he had made the choice to take his brother’s place. As he walked about the Town Square with his mother for his morning exercise, Varien thought about the night of the feast, the night he had lost his humanity. Would he have done things the same way had he the chance? He didn’t know. But right now, there was nothing he could do about it and as much as he hated the way his life had changed, he had made the choice to accept his fate. He only hoped his brother came back and he would be able to see him before his time ran out and he had to go with the dragon to his unknown future.

His brother, that was one sore subject of which Varien did not dare to speak of with his mother or father. Gareth had been so angry at the fact that his father would not let him take Varien away such that he left the house and had not been seen since five days after the Feast. He had been beside himself when he realized what the women were up to and how Varien just went along with it all. Varien could understand that, in a way, Gareth felt betrayed by the attitude of the town’s people and his own as well. He had tried to come up with ways to get his little brother out of the situation he was in, but no one wanted to help. To Varien, it was all so ridiculous sometimes. His brother was the one who felt betrayed when he was the one who had turned people against the dragon to begin with. It did not matter anymore. He had stepped up to take the blame so his brother could have the life he always bragged about. Gareth would be back eventually and like everyone else, will treat him as he now was. He should feel hurt and betrayed but nothing mattered anymore, he would continue to go along with the ways things were now. His brother would come back when he cooled down, the dragon would eventually take and kill him, and no one will ever speak about a boy called Varien ever again. He had made his peace with it all.

***

In a large town far away, an angry young man paced before a tavern known to be a preferred haunt for mercenaries. He had no money or way to pay them for their services but if they could not find a way in which he could pay them, he would just try harder to gather coins for his purpose. Joining the mercenaries briefly crossed his mind but he discarded the idea quickly. He would not be strong enough to confront his enemy before his time ran out and he doubted he could take it on his own anyways. He needed to gather men, many skillful willing to die men. His best chance was to convince them that what was awaiting for the taking inside the vast caves, was good enough to plan on invading it and taking it over after killing the cave’s inhabitant. But to convince so many men, he needed proof. He would have to go back home soon after gaining the attention of the mercenaries’ leader and ask for a small group of skilled men to assist him in getting the proof he needs, to sway the rest of them. Once he gained the assistance of one group, it would be easier to convince other groups that what he spoke of was real, soon after that he would have an army at his disposition and the dragon would fall.

With renewed conviction, he stopped his pacing in front of the tavern and pushed the heavy wooden door open. He stepped into the dark, dusty tavern and was immediately assaulted by all the noise and smell of stale urine and ale. With his fists tightened and his head held high, he moved to the nearest corner and waited for the barkeep to be less busy before he approached him with questions about men for hire.

**Author's Note:**

> A warning/reminder this story is about BL.  
> And no, it will not be an incest story. The love between Gareth and his brother is purely brotherly and they care deeply for each other, I will go into the whys of it later on. 
> 
> The romance will start once Varien is taken by the dragon (hint*hint), it will develop slowly but should be a fun ride if things go my way. There is so much going on between the dragon and the town's story and Varien's family but I will go into that later as things are revealed and developed through the chapters
> 
> If you liked this check out my other original work at fiction press, it is also under Setsuna24. (Im too lazy to come up with a new name LOL)


End file.
